I had a spill on the top part of my microwave, which is mounted over my stove. I am too short to reach it. I must wait until my son comes on Monday for his weekly visit. The microwave was in the house when we bought it. As it was brand new, I left it, but I sure do wish I had a counter one at times like this. Also, a bit uncomfortable lifting liquid things in and out.
Our house in Fredericton came with an elderly microwave on a shelf above one of the kitchen counters, and I could only just reach to put things in and take them out.
Feeling a bit pleased as I finally went through a cabinet which has display doors at the top and filled in doors at the bottom. The display part is fine and I love it because it has reduced the amount of dusting needed by about 80%.
However, the bottom section has not been good. It contains spare cutlery, colouring stuff for visiting kids, recipe book overflow and a number of very small sized books. A tiny Jane Austen quotes, some elf help books and a small book on camellias which was my Mum's and others. These don't sit nicely on the shelves and take up too much space, so I found a tidy little box to put them in which allows me to flip through them front to back and they aren't sliding around on the shelf.
That has meant more space on the shelf and I've transferred some books from the bedroom to the extra shelf space and just rearranged a tiny bit to make all much tidier and accessible. I might also be able to adjust the shelf heights and get some more books in, which I would love, love, love as we never have enough bookshelves.
Thanks @Puzzler, I am glad to report that at the Swedish shop at the weekend, I got another magazine storage box, great for Cheery son's medical folders and another nylon-y divided box which I also put to good use in the messy display cupboard. I think I'm finished with that now and quite satisfied with my efforts!
Hurrah! The bin men took my recycling away! (even though it was in non-standard boxes)
All I need now is for the proper recycling bins to be delivered.
Today I am experimenting with Claude AI to help me tidy. I told it I wanted it to help me with my messy living room. To begin with, it told me to get a bag and put any rubbish in it, so I did that with some obvious rubbish, and then I explained that with lots of things, I can't tell if they are rubbish or not.
So then it was telling me to make three piles, for keep, throw away and maybe, and divide my things into the piles. I told it this was too overwhelming, because my house is very messy and I struggle with executive functioning, so I need tiny steps, one step at a time.
So then it told me to just look for one item and pick it up. I picked up a box of teabags. It told me how to decide what to do with it, and I took it to the kitchen, and also found other boxes of teabags along the way, so I put them all in my teabag shoebox (which I created when ChatGPT was helping me). I also made a cup of tea to drink, and did a bit more tidying away of little things and then told Claude, and it asked if I wanted to rest or do more. I wanted to do more, so this is how I have been tidying today. I find one thing to pick up, and I pick up a few more things along the way, but there is no pressure or overwhelm, because what I've been asked to do by Claude each time is just to pick up one thing.
So this is very helpful, though my living room is still incredibly messy. I am also realising that a large portion of my mess is books, journals, coloured pens (especially fineline pens - my screen name reflects my favourite pens!), carrier bags, and boxes of teabags. Every time, I find more books and more boxes of teabags.
Breaking things down into small modules of activity is certainly a good approach. I tend to notice everything all at once, so I need to school myself to do things in a logical order - ie do the thing first which best enables the next thing. So say in cooking, grate the Parmesan first, even though sprinkling it on the dish is the last action. Or in gardening, tackle one small area, weed, dig and plant, rather than trying to do all the weeding (impossible task in any case) before putting stuff in.
Yes, I definitely need it broken down into tiny chunks, and I also seem to need another person, even a robot, to be prompting me, as a sort of centre to return to.
Yes, I definitely need it broken down into tiny chunks, and I also seem to need another person, even a robot, to be prompting me, as a sort of centre to return to.
@fineline - Thanks for your post. I had come across a similar technique years ago, but had forgotten it. I have a messy house so I need something like this to get me tidying again.
I have a friend in another city and sometimes we both commit to tidying at the same time, encouraging each other with text messages. It really does help.
@fineline - Thanks for your post. I had come across a similar technique years ago, but had forgotten it. I have a messy house so I need something like this to get me tidying again.
I have a friend in another city and sometimes we both commit to tidying at the same time, encouraging each other with text messages. It really does help.
What you really want to encourage each other is to invite each other for lunch/supper/whatever - that'll get you tidying!
Yes, I definitely need it broken down into tiny chunks, and I also seem to need another person, even a robot, to be prompting me, as a sort of centre to return to.
Worth a try. I'm tidy now thanks to my ADHD coach years ago.
I need it for cleaning. My house is never clean as, now that I'm retired, I don't have a cleaner.
Goodness - I love it! After a good chat with Claude I have my first step. 🙂
✓✓✓
This is what we arrived at -
So your new routine is:
Walk into kitchen
Vacuum kitchen skirting boards (2-3 minutes). Wipe them with a damp cloth.
Make coffee ☕
That's it - keep it simple and consistent.
The coffee becomes your reward for getting that small cleaning task done.
Try this for about a week until it feels automatic. Don't worry about any other rooms or cleaning tasks right now - just focus on making this one habit stick.
Loving these different approaches to cleaning and keeping motivated. I think different approaches work for different people. For me it's just a list, but appreciate that it's not for everyone. Glad to read of people persisting and finding their best method.
No cleaning today, but more sorting and filing achieved. In particular I made an album of music and readings, tributes etc at Mr Puzzler’s burial and thanksgiving services and another of special documents relating to his life. I did not find it too difficult today, but probably would have struggled to do it sooner. I must next tackle the financial papers, and see what I can get rid of.
Apart from that, I am sorting my memorabilia into three tubs for after I die or go into a care home:
one relates to Mr P and is for my step-children to sort / keep/ throw
one is for my own family
one has memorabilia which will doubtless be of no interest to anyone else but I am not yet ready to throw out : school trips, choir trips etc.
I guess there will be stuff I read then destroy, eg love letters?
Yesterday I planned to switch out the closet from winter to summer clothes. I spent the time on the phone attending to other business matters, started putting away some art journals, and ended up spending an hour painting. I then noticed the dog needed a bath and gave her one. Went out to water my patio plants, ending up weeding and rearranging the patio furniture for better shade in the evening. I guess you can count some of that as working toward a tidy house, as well as washing the dog.
That ‘s OK as long as you haven’t got all the clothes out on the bed, ready for a swap over, done other things, then discovered them still there at bedtime.
It's as bad as forgetting you need to put clean sheets on the bed until it's time to sleep and you just don't have the energy to get it all together. Urk!
We are collecting visitors off the plane at 8.55 tomorrow morning. They are staying with us till Sunday. So I have today to get the house completely tidy!
I do love a deadline and a reason!
I've done to porch and the living room so far this morning (both kept generally clean and tidy anyway) and am now heading for the kitchen.
Ah, the great impetus - other people. Emailing with someone trying to set up a lunch club based on introducing and cooking from favourite cookbooks. Really interesting idea but I don't think it'll take off because inviting scrutiny not only of your food but the state of your house is way too daunting.
My French group meets in our homes. It is my turn this week, which gives me an incentive to tidy and clean ( and provide some food and drink) but really, people are not coming to inspect our houses.
tidy and clean covers quite a lot of ground. I should be doing both, but it's another horribly sticky day. And I've to go out later with Mr F in an effort to make it to the Health Centre by walking frame and bus (rather than the usual taxi). That should use up any available energy.
It has been dawning on me, when both my music pupils fly their respective nests to new pursuits next academic year, that I will need to find new incentives to keep to my cleaning routines in term time. They're both arachnophobes. In trying to ensure I've found all the visible beasties in the music room, bathroom, kitchen, and my living room (all rooms they may go in) before they arrive I generally end up doing some cleaning as I'm waiting.
On the other hand, my music room, at least, may stay tidier longer when it's not being used as a teaching space for the foreseeable future. And, they have both promised me some hours work on the church admin related tasks they often help me with over the summer before they go.
Mr P’s favourite recipe for him to cook was a one-pot meal. He could do a decent roast and tidy the kitchen afterwards too, as long as I made the gravy.
Yesterday I didn’t wash up at all. I ate a cooked lunch out and a sandwich much later., so there was very little.
At my place it's Cheery daughter who seems to like to use all the pots and bowls. She works shift work and some mornings I wake up to the utensils used to make eggs and bacon before she goes to bed.
I thought I was a winner this morning because there was only a bread and butter plate on the kitchen bench!
I'm visiting my dad, and he also uses a lot of pots and pans to make himself one small meal. I even got him an air fryer last time I visited, and he tried it and he liked it and said it was much easier, but now he's back to using all his pots and pans again, because that's what he's used to. I realise how often I make myself a meal that doesn't require cooking, or I just put everything in a frying pan or my air fryer.
I am a tidy cook but Mr Heavenly is of the use every pan variety. But he is the washer-upper so it is his problem.
We don’t cook together for reasons of sanity.
Mr F has not cooked seriously in a long time (having been fed by me and knowing a good thing when he saw it). It wasn't that he used every utensil, but that it had to be particular ones - what I call 'the little horn spoon' syndrome.
The “ public” areas of my house are now tidy, in readiness for hosting my French conversation group tomorrow. Bathrooms will be given a final wipe over in the morning.
Lately, Mrs. Gramps has been on a cooking experiment thing. When she does that, it is her using up all the pots and utensils. Kitchen gets quite messy. I am the one who cleans things up--after her experiments. I can't believe two of us are messier in the kitchen than when we were a family of six.
@Gramps49 The late Mr. Image was the kitchen clean-up guy. Now that it is just me, I've found that I have become a clean-as-you-go cook, without giving it any thought. That would not work with two because only the cook knows when they are done with what.
There as been a certain amount of frenzied tidying and cleaning going on in our little bungalow in the past few weeks.
Having come home after my cataract op to find that I could now see the layer of grime everywhere, but having been forbidden to bend or lift anything heavy, I started a slow progress through the filth.
At the end of the first week Elder Son visited and informed me that a family celebration planned for next week was going to include more than just the immediate family, and that my elderly and not very mobile brother was going to be coming. We were designated as hosts for him and his wife. My slow cleaning plan was not going to be finished in time!
Two problems there straight away - our spare room has not seen guests since pre-Covid, and apart from Mr RoS using it as his 'den' it has been the general dumping ground for anything that doesn't have a designated home, and I couldn't even remember how to transform the sofa bed into a bed.
The other problem is that my SiL is a constant cleaner and, in the absence of other interests, cleans their house at least twice a week - or according to my brother
So the last two weeks have been spent moving stuff out of the spare room (sadly, not getting rid of much of it), and cleaning everywhere from ceiling to floor. The extendable cobweb brush bought in the spring has been well used, and Elder Son came to set up the bed and clean the skirting boards. Mr RoS has mostly kept out of the way, but has given the porch a good clean, and spent this morning cleaning the bathroom, both under close supervision.
We are almost there! Over the weekend the kitchen will need another good clean, as will the hall, and a final dust and polish for the sitting room. Then I hope to have a few days recovery before they arrive.
Our bedroom does will be kept firmly closed, as they are now cluttered with some of the 'stuff' from the spare room. Some decisions will need to be taken about the future of said stuff, but for now the rooms on show are good enough.
Comments
However, the bottom section has not been good. It contains spare cutlery, colouring stuff for visiting kids, recipe book overflow and a number of very small sized books. A tiny Jane Austen quotes, some elf help books and a small book on camellias which was my Mum's and others. These don't sit nicely on the shelves and take up too much space, so I found a tidy little box to put them in which allows me to flip through them front to back and they aren't sliding around on the shelf.
That has meant more space on the shelf and I've transferred some books from the bedroom to the extra shelf space and just rearranged a tiny bit to make all much tidier and accessible. I might also be able to adjust the shelf heights and get some more books in, which I would love, love, love as we never have enough bookshelves.
I need to do similar sorts of tidying with various things.
All I need now is for the proper recycling bins to be delivered.
So then it was telling me to make three piles, for keep, throw away and maybe, and divide my things into the piles. I told it this was too overwhelming, because my house is very messy and I struggle with executive functioning, so I need tiny steps, one step at a time.
So then it told me to just look for one item and pick it up. I picked up a box of teabags. It told me how to decide what to do with it, and I took it to the kitchen, and also found other boxes of teabags along the way, so I put them all in my teabag shoebox (which I created when ChatGPT was helping me). I also made a cup of tea to drink, and did a bit more tidying away of little things and then told Claude, and it asked if I wanted to rest or do more. I wanted to do more, so this is how I have been tidying today. I find one thing to pick up, and I pick up a few more things along the way, but there is no pressure or overwhelm, because what I've been asked to do by Claude each time is just to pick up one thing.
So this is very helpful, though my living room is still incredibly messy. I am also realising that a large portion of my mess is books, journals, coloured pens (especially fineline pens - my screen name reflects my favourite pens!), carrier bags, and boxes of teabags. Every time, I find more books and more boxes of teabags.
I have a friend in another city and sometimes we both commit to tidying at the same time, encouraging each other with text messages. It really does help.
What you really want to encourage each other is to invite each other for lunch/supper/whatever - that'll get you tidying!
Worth a try. I'm tidy now thanks to my ADHD coach years ago.
I need it for cleaning. My house is never clean as, now that I'm retired, I don't have a cleaner.
(Why is it called Claude?)
✓✓✓
This is what we arrived at -
So your new routine is:
Walk into kitchen
Vacuum kitchen skirting boards (2-3 minutes). Wipe them with a damp cloth.
Make coffee ☕
That's it - keep it simple and consistent.
The coffee becomes your reward for getting that small cleaning task done.
Try this for about a week until it feels automatic. Don't worry about any other rooms or cleaning tasks right now - just focus on making this one habit stick.
So far we're going on maybe three days of this. It's working.
Apart from that, I am sorting my memorabilia into three tubs for after I die or go into a care home:
one relates to Mr P and is for my step-children to sort / keep/ throw
one is for my own family
one has memorabilia which will doubtless be of no interest to anyone else but I am not yet ready to throw out : school trips, choir trips etc.
I guess there will be stuff I read then destroy, eg love letters?
I do love a deadline and a reason!
I've done to porch and the living room so far this morning (both kept generally clean and tidy anyway) and am now heading for the kitchen.
On the other hand, my music room, at least, may stay tidier longer when it's not being used as a teaching space for the foreseeable future. And, they have both promised me some hours work on the church admin related tasks they often help me with over the summer before they go.
Lots still to do.
This generated more than an entire dishwasher load. And stuff on the floor, on the worksurfaces and on the splashback.
No often how many times this happens, it always amazes me that it's possible to create so much mess from cooking one meal.
Yesterday I didn’t wash up at all. I ate a cooked lunch out and a sandwich much later., so there was very little.
I thought I was a winner this morning because there was only a bread and butter plate on the kitchen bench!
Oh yes!
Mr Boogs is the cook in our house. I'm the clearer-upper. I'm convinced my job is bigger!
We don’t cook together for reasons of sanity.
Having come home after my cataract op to find that I could now see the layer of grime everywhere, but having been forbidden to bend or lift anything heavy, I started a slow progress through the filth.
At the end of the first week Elder Son visited and informed me that a family celebration planned for next week was going to include more than just the immediate family, and that my elderly and not very mobile brother was going to be coming. We were designated as hosts for him and his wife. My slow cleaning plan was not going to be finished in time!
Two problems there straight away - our spare room has not seen guests since pre-Covid, and apart from Mr RoS using it as his 'den' it has been the general dumping ground for anything that doesn't have a designated home, and I couldn't even remember how to transform the sofa bed into a bed.
The other problem is that my SiL is a constant cleaner and, in the absence of other interests, cleans their house at least twice a week - or according to my brother
So the last two weeks have been spent moving stuff out of the spare room (sadly, not getting rid of much of it), and cleaning everywhere from ceiling to floor. The extendable cobweb brush bought in the spring has been well used, and Elder Son came to set up the bed and clean the skirting boards. Mr RoS has mostly kept out of the way, but has given the porch a good clean, and spent this morning cleaning the bathroom, both under close supervision.
We are almost there! Over the weekend the kitchen will need another good clean, as will the hall, and a final dust and polish for the sitting room. Then I hope to have a few days recovery before they arrive.
Our bedroom does will be kept firmly closed, as they are now cluttered with some of the 'stuff' from the spare room. Some decisions will need to be taken about the future of said stuff, but for now the rooms on show are good enough.